G.
How Are Students Likely To Progress
Throught The ESL Literacy
Benchmarks?

Progress through the ESL Literacy Benchmarks is likely to be as
varied as the learners and significantly affected by factors, such as age,
effects of emotional trauma, motivation, experience with formal education, and
similarity of the first language to English. However, because of the additional
learning burden - ESL Literacy students are learning literacy skills and
developing new physical skills in addition to learning English language skills
- progress is often more slowly achieved.

Progress may not be steady and fixed. Interruptions in learning
and extended periods of time between re-encountering newly-learned concepts and
skills can require

a re-introduction and practice. Inconsistency in performance
from day to day is not uncommon.

It is also not uncommon for students to move in and out of ESL
Literacy and mainstream ESL classes from time to time. Beginning ESL Literacy
students may develop sufficient literacy skills that they are able to move into
a regular ESL class. However, if their oral skill development out-paces their
literacy skill development, they may feel more comfortable moving into an ESL
Literacy class again for a period of time.

Some Learner Profiles

The following profiles represent learners at different stages
along the ESL Literacy _ ESL continuum

Learner Profile
1

Jorge is a 41 year old from El Salvador who has been in Canada
five months. He worked as a farmer in his country. He went to school for six
years as a child, although his attendance was irregular due to the school's
distance from his village and his need to work on the family farm seasonally.
As an adult, he never felt comfortable reading or writing and relied on others
in the community to do it for him.

He has a basic vocabulary of sight words in Spanish, which he
can read when they are in isolation. He is not comfortable writing much more
than his name. He has basic numeracy skills of counting, adding and
subtracting, all of which he does in his head.

Since his arrival in Canada, he has picked up some survival
English words and phrases. His English is completely oral: he cannot read or
write English.

Jorge is just beyond an initial point in Phase I of
reading, writing and numeracy. His listening is around Benchmark 1 and his
speaking is about ESL Benchmark 2.